Tag Archives: Cambodia

The glass doors slide open in the Phnom Penh airport and a face stands out in the crowd. SomOn’s. Eight years ago—almost to the day—the same man greeted us with the same enormous grin. We’d just arrived in a country we knew almost nothing about, and SomOn’s was the first face we saw. This affable man became our regular tuk-tuk […]

Something special happens every day around 4pm on Rabbit Island: the daytrippers go home. Around that hour, clusters of brightly painted wooden boats pull away from the beach filled with people returning to the mainland at Kep. Then the island is all yours.

“Dear valuable guest,” began the tent card welcoming us to our hotel in room in Bangkok, a delightfully inelegant twist to the customary “Dear valued guest” that reflects the quaint honesty, faulty English translations and direct attitudes that prevail in Southeast Asia. We are back in the land of smiles, tuk tuks, cheap, delicious (and, sometimes dicey) street food, and of wholesale, […]

As darkness fell near the confluence of the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers in Phnom Penh, I chatted with some young alumni of programs sponsored by Sarus Beyond Borders, who had gathered for a boat cruise marking the organization’s fifth anniversary. I expected a few polite thank-you’s for the bit part I’ve played as a member of the Sarus board, […]

When Ramon Stoppelenburg was 25, he decided he wasn’t happy working and living in The Netherlands. He launched a website asking people around the world to host him for one day and spent the next year visiting countries around the world and staying with strangers – for free. He hasn’t stopped since. He now lives in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where he […]

How odd that Phnom Penh should feel so much like home. And yet, how perfect. This place of bizarre contrasts both beautiful and horrible, with its smiling, struggling people and endless flatlands of rice paddies, dust and sun-baked vistas, welcomed us back to its bosom like a mother embracing her baby after a period of separation. It’s been a year, […]

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